"Harden is too lazy... He's overrated... He needs to come off the bench... They didin't need him this year... Blah, blah, blah" Two words: SUCK IT!!!!!!!!
I know the temptation is there, but there's no reason to rub it in their faces. Harden is a great player, but he'll have another bad game at some point. The good thing is that he'll have many more great games. But either way no need to rub it in the faces of the haters. Harden's game will take care of that.
man we knee jerk so much on this board. Harden have a bad game = he is terrible. Harden have a good game= he's a super star. Let's not get ahead of our selves here, the dude shot 7/9 for 3 pointers and most of them with defender right in his face. Is he capable of sustaining this? Heck no, no player in the history of the game is that good.
allow them to save their face...besides it's only one game...one great game in a month or so is not a mark of a superstar...where it not for his crysis and key tos in previous games this game/win would mean nothing cause houston would be leading 3:1 in the series...
Anybody would have to be an idiot to hate Harden at all. A slump is no reason to ignore the dominance he showed virtually all season long.
The idiots that hated on Harden and called him a scrub were idiots. However, shooting like he has been shooting before this game criticism was fair.
There is a fine line between criticism and hate. I've been reading "geniuses" calling james countless derogatory names and even attributing him to a locker room "cancer". Seriously though we need more people voicing informed opinions, the garm is now just a Harden/Lin hating circle jerk.
Let me ask you something, what have been the four biggest flaws of Harden that all the haters have been harping on this season? 1) Too much iso ball - this game, he did next to done. 2) Too many turnovers - 3 this game, MEH, i think they counted the one at the end where he held the ball until the shot clock expired as 1 so 2 is fine. 3) too much of going for the foul instead of trying to finish, definitely didn't see as much of that in this game as the last 4) poor defense - okay... his defense still stunk this game, but 3/4 isn't bad. Harden made ADJUSTMENTS. He played a much better game and his team led almost the whole way and won relatively comfortably. Guess what? He avoided doing almost everything that all the "harden haters" on this board have been on his case about all season. No one is hating on the guy, just that he doesn't do stupid crap, which he adjusted. It's okay if you just miss shots or are cold from the field, but don't make bad plays.
Of course. The shooting by him was not good at all, but he still positively impacts the game in many different ways on offense to where he's still a very good player even when his shot is off. His defense blows and needs to get better, but overall he's been a stud all season long.
Exactly. "Harden is playing terrible out there!" vs "Harden sucks. He's a selfish player and we'd be better off trading him." One is fine the other is not.
This x 100. I was one of those who criticized Harden, and criticism was warranted with how he had been playing. The game he played tonight however was polar opposite of what he had been doing. Hardly any pounding down the shot clock, took shots in rhythm and didn't force. Because he didn't force, less turnovers as a result. Noticed he also played point forward far less tonight and let Bev/Brooks do a good amount of handling.
